Werewolf Academy Book 2: Hunted (15 page)

Alex
winced as she wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

“Take it easy,” Jaze said gently. “He’s still healing.”

She dropped her arms quickly. “Sorry, Alex. I was just so worried.”

He licked her face before she could back up.

Everyone laughed as Cassie scrubbed at her slimy cheek.

“That’s just gross, Alex. Grow up,” she said
. Tennison held out a hand. She took it and he helped her back to her feet.

“We’re glad you’re alright,” Jericho said.

The rest of the packs crowded forward, asking questions and exclaiming about the missile.

“Alright,” Vance’s deep voice rumbled from the professors’ end of the hallway. “Let’s get to bed. You guys have class in the morning. Anyone late to football gets laps.”

A groan went out through the students. They began to disperse up the stairs.

“We’ll see you up there,” Jericho said. “Take your time.”

Alex was glad the Alpha didn’t insist on helping him. Though his shoulder ached, he still wanted to save whatever reputation he had left.

“See you, Alex,” Cassie said. She proceeded to humiliate him by kissing him on top of the head. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Alex rubbed his head against his front leg in an effort to wipe away her kiss. She laughed and looped her arm through Tennison’s. The pair walked up the stairs together.

“We’re all glad you’re alright
,” Nikki said as the last of the students reached the stairs. She leaned down and gave Alex a gentle hug. Baby William grabbed one of Alex’s ears. Alex let out a quiet huff of laughter as Nikki extracted it from the baby’s surprisingly strong fingers.

“
See, even William’s happy,” Meredith said.

Instinct made Alex look
up to see Professor Mouse standing next to Lyra at the door. His fingers were entwined with hers, but there was an anxious expression on his face.

Jaze followed Alex’s gaze. He didn’t look surprised at the small professor’s silent entrance. “What is it, Mouse?”

Mouse’s gaze flitted from Alex back to Jaze. Jaze nodded. “It’s alright. Alex needs to know what’s going on as much as I do. Tell us what you know.”

Mouse pushed his big glasses further up his nose and kept his eyes on the ground as he said, “We found where the missile was fired.” He cleared his throat, apparently unco
mfortable at all the attention.

Lyra took over.
“It appears to have been a precision guided missile launched from outside the forest boundaries. We’re not sure what sort of tracking system guided it. Kaynan’s gathering the pieces of the missile so that we can find out more about the technology they are using.”

Mouse
glanced at Jaze. “It might, uh, give us a better idea as to how they were so close to hitting Alex from that far away.”

Jaze nodded. “Let me know what you find out. Until then, all students are required to stay within the walls.
Let Colleen know we’ll be moving the students from sense training to plant identification with Dray.” Jaze winked at Alex. “He’ll appreciate the extra help building the green houses.”

Alex tried to fight back a yawn, but the exhaustion from healing was really starting to take a toll.

“You’d better get up to bed.” Jaze looked him up and down. “I’d recommend showering first.”

“Phase in the shower,” Nikki
told Alex. She gave Jaze a warm smile. “You don’t want a mess like the one we made at the Carso house.”

Jaze nodded, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes at the mention of the home he had shared with his mother and all of the werewolves they
had rescued. “I wonder if the orange footprint is still in the hallway.”

“We’ll go see
it again someday,” she promised. “When it’s safe.”

Jaze slipped his hand into hers. “Yes, we will.”

Alex rested his head against the tiles that made up the shower wall. He let the water run over his shoulder as it washed the dried blood from his skin. He was glad he had followed Nikki’s advice to phase in the shower. Though the tiled floor had been slippery beneath his clawed feet, phasing had shed a lot of the dried blood onto the floor. It would have been a big mess to clean up in his room.

His shoulder ached. Prodding revealed that the wound had mostly closed, but it still bled enough that his fingers came back with blood on them. He sighed and turned, wincing as the water hit it more fully. Perhaps he should have listened to Meredith and gone to the medical wing to make sure there wasn’t any debris left in the wound; but according to what he had learned from Nikki from her years serving as the Academy’s medical director, as long as whatever was inside wasn’t silver, the wound itself would push the contaminates free before closing.

His fingers revealed smaller wounds along his neck that had already closed. The one along his cheekbone didn’t hurt anymore. Eventually, even the scar would fade to probably nothing.

Alex closed his eyes and let himself remember what had happened. He held Caitlyn in his jaws and was about to jump to the next ledge when the high-pitched whining buzz caught his attention. He heard Jaze’s warning bark and ducked. He felt his shoulder be ripped apart when the missile struck the rock. The impact of the explosion threw him and Caitlyn backwards.

The whine of the missile repeated over and over in his mind until it sounded like the rush of the water from the showerhead. He slammed the handle down to turn it off. The slight buzz of the neon lights overhead took over. Alex put his hands over his ears and crouched in the shower, willing the sound to go away. He hated that he had been afraid. He hated the way his heart pounded and skipped beats at even the memory of the sound. He hated the sensation of falling through the air, and again heard Caitlyn’s terrified cry before they hit the ground.

Alex grabbed the clothes Cassie had set out for him and pulled them
on roughly. He ignored the way his shoulder throbbed at the treatment. He slammed his palm across the light switch hard enough to crack it. He winced when his shoulder protested.

“Alex, are you alright?” Cassie ran to meet him in the hallway.

Alex gave her a quick hug. “I’m fine, Cass. Thank you. I’ll be back soon.”

“Where are you going?” she asked in surprised.

“I told Jaze I’d be back down for Mouse’s report,” he lied.

She nodded, but he caught the hurt expression on her face before he left through the door. He shut it behind him harder than he intended.

He couldn’t take it anymore. Being shot at, the helplessness, the fear in Caitlyn’s voice, the hurt on Cassie’s face; he couldn’t take any of it any longer. He wanted to hit something, anything. His hands clenched into fists so hard his arms shook.

A hand caught his shoulder. “Why are you out here?”

“Get away from me,” Alex growled. He shoved Boris against the wall so hard the Alpha’s head dented the sheetrock.

“Calm down,” Boris said, his eyes wide in surprise.

Alex couldn’t remember if he had ever seen Boris surprised before. He didn’t care. Nothing mattered. None of it made sense anymore. He turned away and headed for the stairs.

Boris grabbed him by his good shoulder. “Slow down, Alex.”

Alex’s self-control vanished. He spun back around, grabbed the front of Boris’ shirt, and pinned him against the wall. “Leave. Me. Alone.” Alex said, forcing the words through his clenched teeth.

Boris lifted his hands. There was a touch of something in his eyes that caught Alex off-guard. He read shock along with the barest hint of compassion.

Alex realized he had just attacked an Alpha. By all accounts, he should be lying on the floor bloody or dead; yet, Boris was just watching him, waiting to see what he would do. The Alpha wasn’t fighting back or defending himself.

Alex let out a slow breath. He lowered Boris down and took a step back. His chest heaved. Every-other beat of his heart was doubled as he fought to regain his control.

“I just wanted to know why you were out in the hallway instead of resting,” Boris said in a steady voice.

Alex shook his head. He couldn’t think of an answer because there wasn’t one. He had flipped. He couldn’t control himself anymore. He had to get out of the Academy.

He ran down the stairs. Every footstep sent a jolt of pain through his shoulder; the ache stole his breath.

“
The dean doesn’t want anyone leaving the Academy grounds,” Boris called after him.

Alex shoved the door open with his shoulder. The sensation dropped him to his knees outside the door. He held onto his shou
lder and fought back the tears.

The pain he felt exploded inside of him. It wasn’t his shoulder
. Physical pain didn’t matter. He was doing nothing to defend himself. He was a sitting duck just waiting for Drogan to take another shot. He couldn’t handle it anymore. He couldn’t wait for Drogan to succeed with either him or Cassie.

Alex held his shoulder as he ran to the gate. He was about to open it when Boris’ words echoed through his mind.
Leaving the protection of the high Academy walls would be a direct violation of Jaze’s orders. Up to that point, Alex had never blatantly disobeyed the werewolf who had taken them in. After all Jaze had done, obedience was the only thing Alex could give to repay him.

He paced along the wall. It felt like hours, as if his feet carved a path through the landscape. He looked down, almost expecting to see the grass worn away and dirt showing through; yet it remained green that was lightening as the sun rose in the early hours of morning. Dew covered his bare feet. His toes were dirty. He wondered if Cassie had left socks in the shower room and he had missed them. Knowing Cassie, she had even
brought shoes because she knew him that well.

“Boris mentioned you
were out here.”

Jaze’s voice startled Alex to the point that he spun with his hands up, ready to defend himself against Drogan.

Jaze didn’t move. He merely nodded with a knowing light in his eyes that deflated Alex. “I know what you’re going through.”

“How could you?” Alex shouted. He punched the gate so hard the twisted metal rattled. The blow shook through his shoulder, reminding him as it stole his breath that it had been a very stupid thing to do.

His knees gave out and Jaze caught him. “Whoa, there. Take it easy.” He lowered Alex to a seat on the grass with his back against the wall. “I think you’ve probably reached your limit.”

“I think I reached it a long time ago,” Alex mumbled. He hit his head back against the wall. “I just can’t take it anymore.”

“We’ll find Drogan,” Jaze promised. “I know it’s slow, but there are so many werewolves and GPA agents out looking for him, I’m amazed he’s lasted this long.”

“
What does he want from Cassie and me?” Alex asked. He met Jaze’s gaze squarely without flinching. Grays didn’t demand answers from Alphas, yet he had almost slammed a haymaker into Boris’ jaw. Protocol had definitely fled out the window.

“I wish I knew,” Jaze replied, meeting Alex’s eyes. “If we knew, we could eliminate the problem and get rid of Drogan once and for all.”

“Then let’s find out. Let him take me.”

Jaze stared at Alex. “That’s being a little hasty.”

“How else are we going to end this?” Alex asked. “He’s not going to stop. He’s proved that. Do we wait until one of us is dead?”

Jaze was silent for several minutes. He watched Alex, his gaze searching.
The next time he spoke, he had made up his mind. “When I learned about all my uncle had done in killing off Alphas and attempting to take control of the werewolf packs, I was beside myself. I didn’t know how to stop him.” He gestured toward the Academy. “I didn’t have all of this. It was just my mom and me.” He swallowed, forcing down emotions. “So I found a way to fight back, and I built a team, a pack, around me that could fight at my side. I had to know that I wasn’t alone. I needed to help others to help myself.”

Alex rubbed his eyes with one hand. “So what do I do?” he asked; he hated the way his voice was so filled with despair.

“You help others,” Jaze replied, rising.

Alex looked up; t
he dean held out a hand. “Come on.”

Alex rose gingerly with the dean’s help. Jaze led him back to the Academy without another word. Alex followed him down the hall to the hideout in the closet. The door buzzed when Jaze waved his thumb over the sensor in the middle. The room below was empty. Jaze didn’t appear surprised to see it unmonitored.

“Brock mentioned that you found out about the rest of our surveillance capacity.”

“You mean the bat cave? Yeah,” Alex replied.

Jaze chuckled. “There aren’t any bats down there.” The dean crossed the room to a wall near the computers. “Open,” he said simply. A panel sunk in and slid to the side.

“
Is there an entrance from my room like that?” Alex asked, only half-kidding.

“There’
s one from the common room for each pack. I’ll show you where they are if you take care that no one sees you using them,” Jaze answered.